Is July 4th Truly a “Freedom Rings” Holiday in 2023?

As I sit in a local coffee shop on July 4th, in a strange but familiar city after having just fled the state of Florida to escape the horrific and detrimental anti-trans legislation, I can’t help but feel the anger boiling up inside of me. Today is supposed to be the celebration of freedom, yet here me and my people are, running to escape persecution and targeted discriminatory legislation in the United States. In less than a month, I had to empty a 12 12 storage unit with my entire life inside, taking only what fit in my van with me; I had to turn in my resignation to my career job and tell my team-which was the most difficult part of it all, and I had to say goodbye to my friends-turned-family and say goodbye to the life I built myself.

Why? Why give up everything I have worked so hard for, so suddenly? Simple. These laws put my life in danger. The Bathroom Bill, in effect as of July 1st, 2023, would legally require me to utilize the women’s restroom in public spaces. Not only is my legal gender male, but I am very hairy, muscular, and very bearded. The number of comments and messages from cis men online stating they would rape me, or beat me, or shoot me if I used the bathroom with their wife or daughter is precisely why I am terrified to use the bathroom, a basic human and civil right. I would have to obey the laws, right? That’s what conservatives are always screaming about - “everyone has to obey the laws”, but then if I do obey the laws, I risk these same people assaulting me, or worse. How is this fair? How is this right? My last act of defiance prior to leaving Florida was to use the men’s room in the train station, which was illegal for me to do.

A few friends and I were having a conversation about this law the other day, and we realized something horrifying. If there were to be no “pants check” or “genital inspection” at the door of each public restroom, then predator cis men WILL use this law to their advantage, when confronted they will say they were born female and are just “obeying the law.” Conservatives really thought they were “saving the children” but they just passed a law that will allow predators to hunt their children in the bathrooms more freely. Let me repeat myself. The Republican party and conservatives just gave child sexual predators a free pass to women and children by creating a law that can be used to hurt vulnerable individuals. How is this ok? What were they thinking-oh wait. They only wanted to target a specific group of people they do not agree with. Laws like this are never about “women and children,” they are always about underlying hatred and ignorance of a people group that they do not agree with.

So why do I not celebrate the 4th of July? Why would I when me and my people are not free? We are not allowed or afforded the same basic civil and human rights as cisgender people. If our nation was truly “free,” then I would be allowed by law to still use the men’s bathroom. I would not be denied access to life-saving healthcare by medical professional in the case of an accident or medical crisis due to their “religious beliefs.” I would not be sent death threats by people online just because I exist in the same world that they do. When will this country truly be “free?” Why do we have to suffer for human rights to be established? Why do I have to leave everything I worked so hard for to run from persecutory laws that the state has deemed “necessary” for the public’s “protection”-as if me or my people are a threat to society just because we are not what they want us to be?

The next “Freedom Day” I will celebrate is the day that corrupt politicians are booted from office and a corrupt government system has been shut down and re-established as a people-oriented system. It is high time We the People look to the Declaration of Independence and take heed to its words, “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.” The argument for this limited revolt is also underlined by our Founding Fathers further down in the Declaration of Independence, citing that “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” Haven’t the past few years of snowballing corruption in public office shown us we are in dire need of government reconstruction? It is my sincere hope and prayer that the People wake up and realize something must be done to re-establish a working-for-the-People government instead of a ruling-over-the-people government.

We need new leadership. We need revision. We need safety and humanity, freedom for ALL. We need a national Stonewall, people willing to stand up and fight back to protect their fellow human beings at all costs. America will never be free, until we are all free.

References:

The Declaration of Independence. Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives. 1776

Florida HB1521. “Bathroom Bill.” 2023.

Florida SB1580. “Protecting Conscience Bill”. 2023.